Thin, limp, volume-less hair frustrates millions of women every morning. Most of these frustrated women try to solve their problems with thickening shampoo and other hair-thickening products. They build up hopes that the right price and the right choice will produce the mane they have always wanted. But oftentimes the only results they get are wasted time, wasted money and more frustration. Why? Because they are driven by hope and they don’t stop to think—if I can’t believe everything I hear, can I really put faith in the words on a bottle of thickening shampoo?

In the United States, sales of beauty and cosmetic products alone modestly exceed $30 billion per year. What women fail to realize when they whip out their wallets is that they are investing their money and faith in an industry that is barely regulated. Unlike food or medication, the FDA does not perform any pre-market tests to verify claims of beauty product abilities. That a product is available does not attest to anything. Even when products are useless, the FDA has no power to force companies to recall them. So if a woman spends $30 for the promises written on a hair thickening product, her best security is her receipt.

This is not to suggest that all hair-care products are part of a profit-driven scam or that thickening treatments are hopeless. Many experts and stylists confirm that there are thickening products that work. It is just a matter of knowing what to buy and why.

In many cases women suffer disappointment with products because they want a solution without fully considering their problem. Realizing that her hair is thin and limp is only part of what a woman needs to know. She also needs to figure out why.

How Thickening Shampoo Works

Shampoos are designed to remove dirt, oils and product build up from the hair and scalp. When a shampoo is effective and impurities are removed from the hair, more space is left between each strand than when the hair was dirty. The duty of thickening shampoos is to plump each strand of hair to make it fuller so that it occupies more space.

Since hair is almost 90% keratin, more commonly known as protein, most effective thickening shampoos are protein-based. The next largest component of hair is water, so usually Panthenol, a form of the Vitamin B-5, is added as well. These two ingredients are a combination that is supposed to thicken, or volumize, the hair.

The protein fortifies the outer layer of each strand and the Panthenol penetrates the scalp and hair creating and attracting moisture. The more moisture a strand of hair has the more it swells.

Apart from these essential ingredients, other vitamins, botanical extracts and amino acids are added to thickening shampoos to increase moisture, shine, elasticity, and vitality.

This brief lesson in composition and chemistry sounds simple and seems probable. All a woman needs to do is go to her beauty supplier, look for protein-based shampoo with Panthenol, go home, wash her hair, and it will become stronger and thicker, which is the opposite of limp and thin. At last success is in sight—or not. Still the issue of why a woman needs hair-thickening treatment has not been addressed.

Why All Hair Is Not Thick

While a woman can suffer from them all, thin, limp and volume-less are different conditions with different causes.

Thin hair refers to large gaps between each strand. The human scalp is dotted with hair follicles, from which stands of hair are projected. The fewer follicles a person has the thinner her hair will be.

Everyone loses hair. The more distance between a woman and her 20th birthday, the more hair she will lose. This thinning only becomes a problem when abnormal loss occurs. That abnormal loss can result from a long list of causes. According to the Women’s Hair Institute for Fine and Thinning Hair, 30 million women suffer from hereditary hair thinning. About 13 million more are suffering hair loss caused from environmental issues, illness, medication, stress, and dietary deficiencies.

What many women consider limp hair is actually genetically fine hair. Fine technically refers to the minimal width of the follicle and the thin diameter of each strand. However, sometimes hair is made fine by partially blocked follicles that prevent the hair from growing at its full width.

Hair may lack volume because it is damaged or dehydrated or more often because women expect too much from their hair types. Not everyone can have thick hair.

Knowing What Is and Isn’t Possible

Experienced stylist Dennis Baker insists that the thickening products available at some salons fulfill their purpose. Herbal Gardens, an online vendor, even claims to be the only source of all-natural thickening shampoo that is customized for each customer’s hair problems.

However, there are some hair conditions that are beyond human control. The number of follicles a person has, for example, is hereditary. That number will not naturally increase and no thickening products can increase it.

In the case of fine hair, thickening shampoo can be effective to a degree by causing the strands to swell. However, hair is not an exception to the rules of science. Everything has a limit and hair that is genetically fine cannot swell beyond a certain amount. If the hair is fine because the scalp is clogged with impurities, any quality shampoo, thickening or otherwise, should correct the problem.

Hereditary hair loss is another hair problem where thickening shampoo can have a slight impact but will not produce miraculous results. Usually hereditary hair loss is only satisfactorily treated with medication or hair implants.

When hair is dehydrated or damaged by sun or chemical processing, there are quality thickening products that will revitalize the hair. When other factors such as medication or poor diet have caused the hair to become unhealthy these products are not likely to be effective. What women fail to realize is that healthy hair begins before they can see it. Blood delivers nutrients to the roots, so diet plays a role as important as any product. Instead of trying to wash on protein and vitamins, women should consume them.

Moreover, shampoo has a specific function. It is the first step of the hair-care process.

Stylists, hair specialists, and suppliers of hair products recommend thickening shampoo in conjunction with the related line of thickening products. It is not likely that a woman will see the results that she is looking for if she plucks one product from a tested system.

Thickening Shampoos worth Their Cost

From alluring bottles to creatively written labels to promises of eco-friendliness, there are hundreds of thickening products available with just as many marketing schemes. Not every product is going to live up to its advertising and they don’t have to.

Choosing an effective thickening shampoo requires investigation and consideration. A woman must first consider her needs, then compare her needs with the ingredients, and finally determine if the product she is interested in will do the job. Reviews of thickening shampoos are readily available online. Taking the time to read them can save a lot of money and frustration.

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